Critter Picker
Well-Known Member
You're right,problem is I lost all my guns when I fell through the ice while hunting.
A Bit Off of the Usual Topics, but….
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Smoke a bunch of it old school and make it last longer
Me too
birddog 68
Well-Known Member
At least you are ok. That cold water is very dangerous.
At least my accident was during warmer months when canoeing. Silly me loading the entire safe onto a canoe.
I smoke it and then hang it in a low humidity low temp. After about a year it is really good to eat!!!!
Learned it from an old guy from Spain.
You better have a lot of salt and a smoke house, won't matter what you kill if you're unable to store it. Can't assume that your freezer will function, one of the first things hit in our country will be the power grid. Anything larger than a squirrel and fish will need preserving. I've eaten dried salmon in Alaska, it was called squaw candy. Most misnamed thing I've ever put in my pie hole. I don't have the vocabulary to expound on how bad it was. I should have just eaten the stick holding it. My friend who had lived there for many years just gobbled it up. Disgusting!
We might have to learn how to eat some nasty food.
I figure pickling and canning will become a important part of life
You're right about the canning, I've had venison that was two years old that had been canned. It was very good. Back strap in chunks. It was made into a soup recipe.
When I was a kid we caned everything except meat. The meat we smoked. Don't ever remember having a can of anything from the market A&P or ACME. I still remember all the Mason jars and my mom would use perfin wax to seal all the jellies. Never used a metal lid on them. Only time she used metal lids when was cooking them and then pressing the center of the lid to see if it "Popped" to know wethere is was good or not. I remember taking a butter knife to break open the wax up a jar of jelly.
My father built a ground Smoker. We dug a ditch about 25' long about 1' deep and 2' wide then covered with tin and put dirt on the edges so the smoke would not escape. at one end was the fire where we would put cheery, apple, peach wood and the smoker end was a big wooden barrel with a lot of broom stick handles to hang the meat and Kielbasi. Then put burlap over the top to let the smoke out slowly. The reason for the long ditch covered was to "Cool" the smoke before it got to the meat. Boy those were some good times. My dad would away put a few tinfoil covered potatoes next to the fire for us to eat while we watched the fire while smoking. This took several days.
My father built a ground Smoker. We dug a ditch about 25' long about 1' deep and 2' wide then covered with tin and put dirt on the edges so the smoke would not escape. at one end was the fire where we would put cheery, apple, peach wood and the smoker end was a big wooden barrel with a lot of broom stick handles to hang the meat and Kielbasi. Then put burlap over the top to let the smoke out slowly. The reason for the long ditch covered was to "Cool" the smoke before it got to the meat. Boy those were some good times. My dad would away put a few tinfoil covered potatoes next to the fire for us to eat while we watched the fire while smoking. This took several days.
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As a young lad my mother sent me to live on my grandmothers farm every summer from about age eight to fourteen. Big farm located in Tazewell county Va.old colonial House with slave quarter converted to chicken houses,smoke house, well house hay fields three milk cows and the clinch river on the property. I Hated it, at the time, looking back now I would not trade it for anything. I worked in her huge garden, mowed the huge yard ,gathered eggs, collected the cows each morning and evening for milking. plus other duties as needed. It was a beautiful place, the hay fields had raised areas in them that had civil war grave markers from battles fought on the property. In my free time I was allowed to fish the river and go anywhere on the farm or visit the neighbors, A walk a mile away. But anything to get away from grandma and my aunt from time to time. She put up preserved food, jelly, vegetables. Sold eggs and butter, I grew muscles from a butter churn. You have brought back some good memories CST. Thanks.
Hunter/ gatherer tech is pretty much obsolete and cannot sustain large populations on a long term basis, except places like Alaska. There also is the issue of protecting and nurturing young children, the elderly and etc. Agriculture, livestock production and commercial fishing are far superior technologies and require far less effort to produce far more food. Even in the modern US there are self-sufficient communities thriving without tractors or automobiles. Small fishing communities in coastal areas are also sustainable. Just look at Japan. What is needed is an extended network of family and friends that posses diverse talents, healthcare being one of the considerations.
There is also safety in numbers.
Food preservation then becomes just a matter of getting from one growing season to the next or preserving the meat from a large animal. BTW,meat requires pressure canning to get the required temperatures. I like the trench idea above for smoking, that would be amazing! Planting fruit trees and perennial berry bushes along with a food plot would seem to be a good plan, along with a garden. Also, a small roost of chickens can provide a lot of eggs and meat year round with very minimal input.
A community with individuals or groups specializing in various productive activities and bartering with others is the way to go. If a crop fails or bird flu hits it won't wipe out the entire food supply. The Midwest used to supply almost the entire world with grain along with beef, until they went to ethanol. There is no reason a small town here could not become self sufficient with a bit of cooperation. People have been doing it for centuries, long before electricity. Admittedly, a small bio-diesel capable tractor would be nice vs. horse or mule power. This type of co-operation, however, would require people with moral and ethical standards, as does our republic. I would consider being out just to fend for oneself as being very selfish.
Big cities would pose the major issue. For that our military has tremendous resources and capabilities, along with emergency food and shelter etc. I remember one time an island in Hawaii lost power. A nuke sub pulled up, connected to the grid, and powered the entire place no problemo. When power goes out here, there are dozens of utility trucks buzzing around fixing things. I would assume local utilities with military assistance would have the grid restored in a reasonable time. Unfortunately the incompetence as of late in the administration would probably negate most of that value. Just look at the Maui disaster.
There is also safety in numbers.
Food preservation then becomes just a matter of getting from one growing season to the next or preserving the meat from a large animal. BTW,meat requires pressure canning to get the required temperatures. I like the trench idea above for smoking, that would be amazing! Planting fruit trees and perennial berry bushes along with a food plot would seem to be a good plan, along with a garden. Also, a small roost of chickens can provide a lot of eggs and meat year round with very minimal input.
A community with individuals or groups specializing in various productive activities and bartering with others is the way to go. If a crop fails or bird flu hits it won't wipe out the entire food supply. The Midwest used to supply almost the entire world with grain along with beef, until they went to ethanol. There is no reason a small town here could not become self sufficient with a bit of cooperation. People have been doing it for centuries, long before electricity. Admittedly, a small bio-diesel capable tractor would be nice vs. horse or mule power. This type of co-operation, however, would require people with moral and ethical standards, as does our republic. I would consider being out just to fend for oneself as being very selfish.
Big cities would pose the major issue. For that our military has tremendous resources and capabilities, along with emergency food and shelter etc. I remember one time an island in Hawaii lost power. A nuke sub pulled up, connected to the grid, and powered the entire place no problemo. When power goes out here, there are dozens of utility trucks buzzing around fixing things. I would assume local utilities with military assistance would have the grid restored in a reasonable time. Unfortunately the incompetence as of late in the administration would probably negate most of that value. Just look at the Maui disaster.
Mike Matteson
Well-Known Member
Do you think so? I wouldn't to make any bets on it.
I wonder who's door they are going to be knocking on.
Mike Matteson
Well-Known Member
Having way to much fun here!
Great question My answer
3rd X-class solar flare in 24 hours is the most powerful for 6 years — and it may not be the last
A hyperactive sunspot recently unleashed its third X-class flare in under 24 hours. The X6 flare is the most powerful since 2017 and could be followed by equally massive explosions.www.livescience.com
How many of us are prepared for even the slightest of power, food supply chain, or medical outages?
While certainly not likely, another solar flare similar to the Carrington Event…..could dramatically alter our lives as we know them!
For the "naysayers"….it's all bs until you're involved!memtb
I have every power tool known to man, which won't work so I have all the basic hand tools needed to keep us alive.
I have about a years supply of packaged food, some canned, some dehydrated
I have 8 5gal containers of propane for my BBQ if we need to cook and no nat gas.
I have 5 50 gal containers of water stored, with enough chemical to clean about 5000 gal. more.
I have "bug out bags" with fire starting, snares, knive, Life straws, compass, in each vehicle.
I have a gas, LP, Nat Gas 10,000 watt generator with fuel ( all Three)
I'm pretty ready but really hope I don't need any of it.
I know how to dig a latrine.
I will eat my neighbors cat.
Mike
